Innovative Catholicism

Innovative Catholicism and the Human Condition
by Jane Anderson

This text introduces Jane Anderson’s book, Innovative Catholicism and the Human Condition (Routledge, New York 2016). It is FREELY AVAILABLE on this website and also here: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781315623023/innovative-catholicism-human-condition-jane-anderson

‘Innovative’ Catholicism means a Catholicism that is renewed, refreshed, updated. A Catholicism that has adapted itself to the new conditions in which we live. A Catholicism with a new face. A Catholicism which, while preserving traditional faith, does justice to our existence in the world of today. In short, being a ‘modern’ Catholic.

Anderson’s book, Innovative Catholicism and the Human Condition, gives an anthropological account of a progressive religiou s movement in the Roman Catholic Church that is attempting to reconcile religious conviction and reason. In effect, the movement seeks to modify our understanding of the human condition. Investigation is given to a representative group of this movement, “Innovative Catholics,” who are endeavouring to maintain the momentum for change which began in the 1960s and 1970s. They now find themselves caught between traditional notions of religion and a secularised society, while trying to reconcile these polarising forces to find a pathway forward.

Starting point of the research …
While ethnographic fieldwork for this research was conducted in Australia, this movement is to be found across the Western world. The research is framed by the question posed by Jürgen Habermas, who asks whether the democratic constitutional state is able to renew itself, and recognises a benefit in learning from religion. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, subsequently Pope Benedict XVI, responds by asserting the need for a common ethical basis and limits on reason. This latter position, however, remains problematic for Innovative Catholics who are conscious of history and culture. The research explores how Innovative Catholics, who in taking the middle position, inform this dialectic on secularization through their ideas and practices about the human condition.

Broad style of readership …
The work provides an explanation to those want to understand the cultural and historical complexities which have contributed to the estrangement between religion and secular society and who are open to more communicative arrangements. While this is a book primarily published for academic readership – and there is some heavy academic language used in parts of the book, most of the book is very accessible to a less intellectually inclined audience. The book consists of quotations from “ordinary” Catholics who are trying to make sense of their beliefs in Church, society and the environment.
The following quotes from Chapter 6 serve as an example of the insight of Innovative Catholics:
With regard to structures, acceptance of the collegiality of bishops [at the council] opened the way to the future, mainly because it meant that the voices of local communities of faith would be heard and their priesthood treated with due respect. Rearguard action to restore and maintain pre-Vatican structures has prevailed. This has been to the detriment of the Church as a whole which has lost its clergy, its status in the community and the younger generation. There are signs of hope in the deep and contemporary faith of many local communities. There are no signs of hope in the determination of the official Church to persist with its fundamental obsolescence. —Pat

The papacy argues that the Church is not now, nor has it ever been, a democracy. . . . But in the twenty-first century, this obvious disregard of democratic principles is exasperating. —Margaret

The papacy cannot presume to tell our democracy how it should be run if it is not prepared to do the hard work of being democratic itself. —Sophie

I have found that many people are nervous expressing their own views too publicly. But in private conversation,you realise that many find the Church too closed on many of the issuesthat perhaps society has moved forward. Many do not take too kindly to
the various directives from Rome because they don’t fit with [our] culture. —Anon.

A Conclusion …
In the conclusion to her research, Dr. Anderson returns to the debate between Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger and argues: Habermas promotes the idea that problems in secular society might be remedied by religious concepts, but Innovative Catholics indicate that this position overlooks the effect of reciprocity. In seeking consonance, they assert that society cannot be reinvigorated if religion is not. For this reason, they consider the Church has much to learn from secular society. They are aware that the Second Vatican Council made some moves to incorporate a modicum of democratic attitudes and actions but that these were undermined by the autocratic preferences of Popes John Paul and Benedict. Innovative Catholics argue that the Church should advance democratising arrangements, not only for its own sake but also for society at large. Their dispute is similarly levelled at the way knowledge has been controlled by recent Popes. Innovative Catholics contend that the Church should welcome progressive ideas and practices, believing that much is to be gained, as has been evidenced in secular society [emphasis added]. Thus, if religion were given the freedom to explore frontiers and the opportunity to present these discoveries, a shared benefit would result.
In her final paragraph she explores the implications of all this for the future of Innovative Catholics as a class of people and for religion more generally. In closing, and in pondering the fate of Innovative Catholics, a key question remains. As members of a progressive religious movement, they operate as an adaptive phenomenon that maintains an operational and meaningful connection between religion and society. But how will their legacy survive the vested interests of traditional religion and secular reason? Turner highlights the gravity of that question in his theory that without structure, a liminal people and rudimentary communities cannot reproduce themselves (2009, 140). Given that the ideas and practices of Innovative Catholics remain marginal, their bequest is vulnerable. But its fate may also be that of established religion and society. A religion that cannot accommodate innovation loses, at minimum, relevance and vitality and, maximally, its raison d’etre. A society that is not able to tap into sentimental and spiritual dimensions is prone to problems relating to excess, both in the individual and at a social level and, thus, remains unstable. However, the last word must go to Innovative Catholics who are both optimists and realists. In operating out of a spirited conviction, from which they produce and apply their innovations, they demonstrate the possibility that a more accommodating religion and society may someday prevail. [emphasis added]

For a complete read ….
Innovative Catholicism essentially serves as a blueprint for guiding Catholicism in the 21st century. Besides the Preface and preliminaries there are eight chapters in the book and a Conclusion.